


A Chance Encounter

by CloudDreamer



Category: Homestuck, The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Crossover, Humanstuck, Peter Nureyev Alias Generator (Penumbra Podcast), Robbery Gone Wrong Child Adopted More At Eight, accidental adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25771447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudDreamer/pseuds/CloudDreamer
Summary: Two thieves. An amateur and a master.
Relationships: Vriska Serket & Peter Nureyev
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	A Chance Encounter

The girl is not made to be a pickpocket.

Oh, she’s got the need for it. Her skinny frame speaks to years of malnourishment, and her denim jacket’s ripped to shreds. The shirt she’s wearing, bright orange with some words in a language he only half remembers, is newer, probably stolen too, but it’s already dirty. She clearly doesn’t notice how badly she’s trembling, not with the confident set to her shoulders, and there’s a hollowness to her eyes that no amount of bravado can erase. The necklace hanging down just beneath the shirt is too expensive for someone born to this. Any good thief would know to hide that.

He recognizes a fake. Her pride’s a show, but it’s a dangerous one. One that draws eyes to her when she should be trying to blend in. Either be a liar convincingly or accept the hand you’re dealt. 

She’s new at this. She doesn’t know who’s a good mark and who’s not. That much is made perfectly clear when he spots her looking at him. To be fair to the girl, he’s a fairly oblivious acting disguise tonight. Wearing the face of a fool. He doesn’t fault her for not seeing through it. Really the problem’s that Ares Finch is way too high rich of a target for a girl like her to target. She doesn’t know the art of stepping between observers, the dance of the incidental bump. She just goes for it, the only arm she has forward, the only eye fierce. And he grabs her wrist.

Her fingers are surprisingly quick for such an obvious newcomer. Polished nails, he notes as he turns it over, freshly done. She tries to jerk back, about to open her mouth to scream, but he steps to the side, putting a finger to his lips.

His voice is a whisper, just loud enough for her to pick it up.

???: (Let go of me.)

Hers is a hiss.

“ARES”: (I couldn’t possibly let such an incompetent thief walk free.)

She scoffs, twisting away as best as she can. 

???: (Yeah, why not?)

It’s a good thing they’re on a quiet street, He figures. Lucky for her, that the rest of the crowd would rather walk away than get involved in some drama. Lucky that she waited till they were past the crowded intersection, that she managed him as her target. He’s far from a good person, but he’s not going to let a stupid kid get herself killed, or worse, arrested. She shakes her head and her straight black hair with a cerulean streak flies back and forth. There’s something almost Brahman about her, and it leaves him off guard. He can’t say if it’s her eye or her warm skin or just the faintest hint of an accent behind her words. Her ears are pierced in eight different places, but she’s only wearing one stud. She looks like she can’t be a day over thirteen, but she’s got to be older. 

???: (Piss off.) 

She manages to push him away while he’s studying her, and it’s a second before he can grab her again. This time, his hand’s in hers. 

“ARES”: (Stop fighting, I’m not going to turn you in.)  
???: (Why the fuck not?)

He doesn’t realize he’s made the choice to drop the act, to show her who he is, until the word’s escape his lips.

PETER: (I’m a thief too. And you, my friend, are quite the disrespect to my profession.)  
???: (That’s Vriska Serket to you, I’m not your friend. Can it!)

She kicks out with red sneakers, wild but practiced. She’s got plenty of talent, he can tell, and it’d be such a shame to waste it all. He steps to the side. 

PETER: Can it?

He raises an eyebrow.

VRISKA: (Yeah! You know, shut up?)  
PETER: (Nobody says that.)  
VRISKA: (Well, I say it. So can it and (let me ro8 you already, thief’s honor.)  
PETER: (That’s not how thief’s honor works.)  
VRISKA: (How the fuck should I know how any of this shit works, I just got here.)  
]PETER: (Well, maybe someone should teach you.)  
VRISKA: (What, you offering? And what? To drag me into a dark alley and 8eat me till I respect my elders or some shit?)

She’s got fire. The sort that he hasn’t felt in a long time. There’s nothing she could do, if he really wanted to do that. He’s already proven he’s stronger than her, more experienced, and in his current disguise, nobody would question him. But she’s ready to go down fighting.

PETER: (You’re making it very tempting. But I have the strangest feeling that’d only make you more reckless, not less.)  
VRISKA: (I’m lucky. I can handle myself.)  
PETER: (You’d be able to handle yourself a lot better if you had a few lessons under your belt.)  
VRISKA: (What, you offering to teach me how to 8e a proper little thief and everything? Complete with a shitty beard?)

Peter takes a moment at the insult before he realizes that the disguise he’s wearing currently has a very over the top beard. Then he thinks through what she said and lets go of her hand.

PETER: No. No, absolutely not. I do not take apprentices. I work alone.

Vriska just grins at him like she’s won enough credits to pay back all of his debts at once. She shakes her head and grabs his hand back. 

VRISKA: No take 8acks! The Serket Luck strikes again, major score!!!!!!!!


End file.
